The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-12-15


Inside of It-why the Law Taxing In.
comes Was Repealed.
BKooKLYS, Dec. 11.-To night the
Rev. 7. IL v lit Talmagc, d. D., preached
al the Tabernacle. this city. on TOO
Much Ado About Small Things" His
text was; "Yc blind guides, winch strain
at gnat, and swallOw camel" Matt.
xiii "a. The eloquent preacher said:
a Hroyerb is compact wisdom. knowl-
edge in chunks, library i'll a sentence,
the electricity of many clouds discharged
IN one bolt. river put through mill
race. When Christ quotes the proverb OF
the text, he means to set forth the ludi-
CrouS behavior of those who make a great
bluster about small sins and have no ap-
prrCia' ION OF treat ones.
IL my text small insect and large
quadIuir.d are brought into comparison
Tnat and camel. You have in
museum or on the desert seen the latter,
q great awkward. sprawling creature.
with bach two stories high, and stomach
having collection of reservoirs for
GCscrt travel, an animal forbidden to the
jews as food. and in many literaturcs en-
titled 1.-THE ship Of the desert" The guat
spoken Of iii the text is in the grub form.
Ii i, born III pool or pond, after a few
weeks becomes a Chrys;,l5 and then after
u few dlys bVconC. ti!e gnat as we reCog-
niz@ 1t. Iiut the insect spoken Of in the
text i. in its very smallest shape, and it
yet ia.iaLits the watcr--for my text is
mislrint and ought to read strain out
gaat.
My text shows you the prince of in.
constituencies. \ man after long ol'scr-
walton has formed the suspicion that in
a cup of water he is about to drink
there is grub or the Grandparcnt Of Il
Enat. Tie goes and gets sieve or strain
er. He takes the water and pours it
through the sieve III the broad light He
says Il would rather do anything al
most than drink this water until this
larva be eXtirpated.' This water is
brought under inquisition. The expert
ment is successful. The water rushes
through the sieve and leaves against the
side If IT," sieve the grub or gnat. Then
tie, ln,.u carefully removes the insect
AMI drinks the water in placidity. But
going out one day. and hungry, he de-
which the Jews were forbidden to eat
The sa-tronomer has no compunction of
conscience He suffers from no in5iges-
ton. He puts the lower jaw under the
camel. : farvtoot, and his upper jaw over
the hump OF the camcls back. and gives
one swallow and the dromedary Gisap-
pears forever. He strained out gnat.
he swallowed camel.
While Christ's audience were vet snil-
ing at the appOsitpncSs and wit Of his
illustration smile they did III church.
Mnlrss they were too stupid to uu.cr-
stand the hYpcrbolc---C Christ practically
said to them, That is YOU" Punctil-
ious about small things; reckless about
Affairs of great magnitude. No Subicct
ever withcred under a surgeons knife
more bitterly than did the Pharisees un-
der Christ's scalpel Of truth. As an
auatuni.t wiz take human body to
pieces and put them under a microscope
for examination, SO Christ finds his way
to the heart of the dead Pharisec and
cuts it ont and puts it under the glass of
INSPECTION for all generations to exam-
inc Those Pharisecs thought that
Christ would tlatter them and oonlpli-
mpnt them. and how they must have
wrilhci under the red hot words as he
said. Ne fools, VI WhiUed sepulchers.
We blind chi les, which strain out : gnat
and swallow camel.
There are in our day great many
Cnats atrainrl out and a great many
camcls swallowel, and it is the object Of
this ST mon TO sketch a few persons who
ar extensively engaged in that business.
First: | remark that all those minis
tcrs Of the Gospel are photographed in
the text who are very scrupulOus about
the cunycntionalities of religion, but put
no particular stress upon matters of vast
Importance Church services ought to
be grave and solemn. There is no room
for frivolitr in religious convocation.
But there are illustrations and there are
hvperbolcs ike that of Christ in the text
that will irradiate with smiles any intelli-
gent auditory. There are men like those
blind guides OF the text who advocate
only those things in religious service
which draw the corners Of the mouth
down. and denounce all those things
which have q tendency 10 draw the cor
ners Of the mouth up. and these men will
go to Installations and to presbyterieS and
TO conferences and to associations, their
pockets full OF fine sieves to strain out
the gnats, while in their own churches at
home every Sunday there are fifty people
sound asleep. They make their churches
a great lormitorv, and their somnlferous
sermons are IL cradle, and the drawled
out HYMNS a lullaby, while some wakeful
soul in pew with her fan keep the flies
off unconscious persons approximate.
Now, say it is verse to sleep in church
than to smile il church, for the latter
implies at least attention, while the for
mer implies the indifference of the hear
ers and the stupidity of the speaker.
In old age, or from physical intirm-
ity, or from long watching with
tne sick. tirowsiness viii sometimes over
power one; but when minister of the
gospel looks off upon an audience and
inGs healthy and intelligent people
struggling with drowsiness, it is time for
him TO give out the doxology on pro-
nounCe the benediction. The great fault
with church services today is not too
much vivacity, but 100 much somnolence.
The one is an irritating gnat that may
be easily strained out; the other is a
great, sprawlins, sleepy eyed camel on
the dry desert. In all our Sabbath
schools, in all our Bible classes, il all our
pulpits we need to brighten up our relig-
ious messages with such Christ like
vivacity as we find in the text.
/ take down from my library the
Biographies of ministers and writers Of
past ages, inspired and uninspired, who
4 u. -.